Also 8–9 Whitney (8 -eye). A heavy loose woollen material with a nap, manufactured and made up into blankets at Witney, a town in Oxfordshire; also, formerly, a kind of cloth or coating made there. Also attrib. esp. in Witney blanket (for which the simple Witney is occas. used).
The name has been applied to similar materials made elsewhere, but in 1909 a decision of the Courts in an action brought under the Merchandise Marks Act upheld the restriction of the name to blankets produced by the Witney manufacturers.
1716. Gay, Trivia, I. 47. True Witney Broad-cloth with it’s Shag unshorn, Unpierc’d is in the lasting Tempest worn.
1737. in Alice M. Earle, Costume of Colonial Times (1894), 256. Fine Whitneye at 53s a yard, Coarse Whitneye at 28s a yard.
1760. Foote, Minor, II. 50. Whitney blankets for exportation.
1792. New Bath Directory, 16. Whitney Blanket Warehouse.
1860. S Jubb, Shoddy-trade, 45. Witneys have been made in a variety of plain colours, mixtures, and fancy styles.
1866. R. H. Gronow, Recoll., Ser. IV. 155. He … wrapped himself up in a large Witney blanket.
1880. Blackmore, Mary Anerley, xl. Give him one of our new whitneys to go behind his saddle.
1883. Yorks. Textile Direct., 3. Presidents, naps, witneys &c.
1885. Mistletoe Bough, 25/2. A thick witney coat.
